Vacancy and Position Information

Update: You are able to change the order in which you ranked the 3 employers and you can even delete one of your preferred employers if you wish. However you cannot add new employers to your preference list after applications close as any new employers will not have received your application. To do this, you’ll need to email the nursing@acenz.net.nz asking us to update your preferences for you.

As part of the End of Year 2017 intake, positions will be made available from all employers across New Zealand. Successful candidates for this intake will commence their employment late January to mid-February 2018 however, start dates will vary between employers. ACE recommend applicants speak with employers directly to identify when positions will likely commence for these employers.

You will select up to 3 employers and you are able to change your employer preferences up until the application close date. The reason we allow you to do this is because the algorithm wants to match you to your 1st preferred employer wherever possible. Therefore, if you received an interview with your 3rd preferred employer but not your 1st or 2nd, it is recommended that you then change your preferences to make your 3rd preferred employer become your 1st as this gives you the greatest chance of being matched to this DHB. All employers participate in the End of Year intakes, but only 9-12 participate in the Mid-Year intake. Check the list below of employers who have indicated they will participate in the upcoming intake.

When choosing your employers, do not choose any employer you wouldn’t legitimately work for because if you are offered a position, remember that this is the one and only position you will be offered for that intake, and if you decline, you will lose all opportunities to find a NETP or NESP placement in that particular intake.

If you don’t interview with an employer, it’s highly unlikely they will have ranked you, and if they haven’t ranked you, you can’t be matched to them. Also, bear in mind that you are able to change the order in which you ranked the 3 employers and you can even delete one of your preferred employers if you wish. However you cannot add new employers to your preference list after applications close as any new employers will not have received your application. To do this, you’ll need to email the nursing@acenz.net.nz asking us to update your preferences for you.

Employers confirmed participating in End of Year 2017 intake.

The date for employers to confirm their participation and update their NETP/NESP websites is Tuesday 15th August 2017. You can find a link to their career pages in the Employer Contact Information section.

Auckland DHB

Bay of Plenty DHB

Canterbury DHB

Capital & Coast DHB

Counties Manukau DHB

Hawke's Bay DHB

Hutt Valley DHB

Lakes DHB

MidCentral DHB

Nelson Marlborough DHB

Northland DHB

Southern DHB Dunedin

South Canterbury DHB

Southern Cross Hospitals - Auckland

Southern Cross Hospitals - Midland (Waikato & BoP)

Southern Cross Hospitals - New Plymouth

Southern Cross Hospitals - Southern (Christchurch)

Southland DHB (Invercargill)

Tairawhiti DHB

Taranaki DHB

Waikato DHB

Wairarapa DHB

Waitemata DHB

West Coast DHB

Whanganui DHB

Practice Settings

Once you have chosen your preference of employer you will need to select up to 3 practice settings or areas of specialist practice. The 16 practice settings that are available have been nationally agreed by key ACE stakeholders, however, you may find that what you can select can seem restrictive. If there are sub-specialties you know you would like to practice in, for example, please highlight this in your cover letter as employers pay close attention to your cover letter for information regarding your practice setting preferences. Although you can only rank 3 practice setting specialties and all your preferred employers can see your practice setting preferences, you can still cater your cover letter to be specific for each employer, so BE SPECIFIC!!!! Outline in your cover letter exactly what practice setting you are ideally hoping for within that employer! Remember, there may be some differences across the 3 employers you have selected in terms of which Practice Setting specialties they have vacancies in.

For each employer selected, you should make every effort to include in full the reasons why you have chosen the set of Practice settings and why you have set these in your order of 1/2/3. Employers will be able to see your choices of specialty in the order you have selected them. If you are highly focused on gaining a position in your first chosen specialty area, you should say so. If you would be happy working in any one of your 3 choices again, you should note that in your cover letters. If you seek further clarification, please contact your NETP coordinator and ask about aligning the ACE practice settings to any sub specialties that you want to consider. After applications close you can no longer change your practice setting preferences. So remember to talk about this in depth at interview stage as if you have changed your mind you can talk to them at interview stage about what positions they have available in their organisation.

Southern Cross Hospitals

Should an applicant choose to preference one of the Southern Cross Hospital regions they should note the following:

These regions cover multiple sites (the breakdown of which is below), as part of the ACE match process there is no guarantee an applicant will be matched to one particular site within these regions. Therefore, should an applicant choose to preference Southern Cross Hospitals they should be prepared to accept an offer of employment from Southern Cross Hospitals at ANY site within the region they preference.

If applicants would prefer to work at a specific site with a region they should outline this in their cover letter to Southern Cross Hospitals so they can be aware of this.

Southern Cross Hospitals Region Breakdown:

Auckland

North Harbour

Brightside

Auckland Surgical Centre

Gillies Hospital

Ormiston Hospital (JV)

Midlands

Hamilton

Rotorua

Grace Hospital (JV)

New Plymouth

New Plymouth

Central

Crest Hospital

Wellington

Manuka Street Hospital (JV)

Southern

Christchurch

Invercargill

*JV refers to joint venture hospitals

While ACE encourage applicants to contact employers to get further information on the opportunities available within that particular employer, please note that all applications need to be made through the ACE Nursing Website.

Applicants should note that they are able to apply to more than one employer. If an application is unsuccessful at its first ranked employer – the application will automatically be considered by its second choice employer and so on down the list of ranked employers. To have the best chance of securing a position, applicants should rank more than one and up to three employers. Applicants should not rank an employer they do not want to work at. It is our firm expectation that applicants will accept a job offer from any one of the employers they rank. Applicants will receive only one job offer from one of their preferred employers; rejecting that job offer , due to the process involved, will automatically prevent applicants from gaining employment with another employer in that graduate intake round.

Expected Vacancies

Employers are encouraged to make expected vacancies available to applicants on their individual career websites and also indicate the practice settings which these positions are likely to be in. This information should be available the day prior to appliations for the intake opening. ACE makes every effort to ensure that employers have this information available for applicants on their websites however, ACE will not take responsibility for ensuring that this information is current and updated by each DHB. If you are not clear about the practice settings offered by your preferred DHB's, please contact the relevant NETP coordinators. Employer career websites can be found in the Employer Information section on the ACE Website.

Voluntary Bonding Scheme

When thinking about your choice of specialty area you may also want to consider the practice settings that are eligible for the Voluntary Bonding Scheme; which is an incentive based payment scheme that has been introduced by the Government to reward nursing graduates who agree to work in hard-to-staff communities and/or specialties.

For more information on the practice settings that are eligible for the Voluntary Bonding Scheme please click here.

Should you be interested in a VBS position you will need to rank within your application at least one of the practice settings listed as coming under the VBS scheme and please mention the VBS scheme in your Cover Letter(s)

Mental Health and Addiction Nursing Positions

You can apply to both NETP and NESP programmes through ACE and you can apply for primary care, aged residential care and community care positions through ACE and if you are interested in a VLCA position, remember to mention this in your cover letter!

To apply for NESP, you would simply rank Mental Health and Addictions as a practice setting preference as NESP relates purely to Mental Health & Addictions. NETP therefore covers all the remaining 15 practice setting specialties. So to apply to both NETP and NESP you would rank Mental Health PLUS one or two other specialties. To apply to NESP only, you would just rank MH&A and leave the other two practice setting options blank, and to apply to NETP only, you would NOT rank MH&A.

The programme supports nurses new to Mental Health and Addiction services to develop their professional practice while developing the specific skills required for the specialty field of Mental Health and Addiction nursing. Only new graduate Nurses will apply for NESP positions through ACE and only those new graduates who meet the basic eligibility requirements noted above can apply. Graduate nurses who do not meet the eligibility criteria or are experienced nurses looking to change specialties (i.e. experienced registered nurses transferring into mental health and addiction) and want to enter NESP, will need to apply directly to the individual employers.

Full information on the programme can be found here at the Te Pou website.

How to apply for a NESP position via Nursing ACE

Register with ACE and complete your application in the normal way on the ACE application website once it opens on August 16th 2017.

Navigate to the page “Preferences”, follow instructions and choose your employers in order of preference.

You will then need to choose your preference of practice setting (or speciality). For NESP you should choose “Mental Health and Addiction” as your first choice to have the best chance of securing a graduate position. If you have other specialties you are interested in, you should also make a second and third choice.

Please note that if you are interested in a sub-specialty within one of the major specialities you have nominated in your ACE application, it is a good idea to mention this sub-speciality in your cover letter(s). You can use your cover letter to outline what your career objectives are, why you want to work for that particular employer and why you want a particular specialty/sub-specialty.

Note that while we can guarantee that if successful you will only receive a job offer from one of your preferred employers, we cannot guarantee that you will initially be placed into one of the preferred practice settings you have nominated in your application, although employers will make every effort to do so.

Primary Health Care Positions

Primary Health Care positions include the following

Practice Nursing

Department of Corrections

Iwi Providers

School Nursing

Well Child Tamariki Ora providers (e.g. Plunket)

Hospice

As part of your application you will be asked to select up to 3 preferences of practice settings or specialties. Within the list of specialties available you will see a specific option available “Primary Health Care” and you should select this as one of your 3 preferences, in the order in which you would like to have your application considered. In your covering letter you can give more detail about the exact primary care setting you would like to work in and employers will work with local Primary Health Care providers to identify potential employment opportunities for new graduates. During your interview with potential employers you will be given an opportunity to discuss in more detail the exact practice settings available within that organisation and which of these you feel you are best suited to. If Primary Health Care providers advertise for new graduate registered nurse positions you can still apply for these directly to them, outside of the ACE process.

Aged Residential Care Positions

Within the list of specialties available you will see a specific option for “Aged Residential Care” and if you are interested in working within this area, you should select this as one of your 3 preferences, in the order in which you would like to have your application considered. In your covering letter you can give more detail about the exact aged residential care setting you would like to work in and employers will work with local Aged Residential Care providers to identify potential employment opportunities for new graduates. During your interviews with potential employers you will be given an opportunity to discuss in more detail the exact practice settings available within that organisation and which of these you feel you are best suited to. If Aged Residential Care providers advertise for new graduate registered nurse positions you can still apply for these directly to them, outside of the ACE process.